"Raised in a crumbling New England mansion by four women with personalities as split as a cracked mirror, young Francis Grayson has an obsessive need to fix them all. There's his mother, distant and beautiful Magdalene; his disfigured, suffocating Aunt Stella; his odious grandmother; and the bane of his existence, his abusive and delusional Aunt Lothian. For years, Francis plays a tricky game of duck and cover with the women, turning to music to stay sane. ........"Kirkus Reviews

I just finished the Angry Woman Suite. .I should mention at this point that this post is part of a book tour hosted by Novel Publicity. I have to commend Novel Publicity for picking out such great writers. This is the second tour I’m participating in and again this has been a really great reading experience from what I’ve seen so far, I think they really do go out of their way to find and represent the best indie talent out there.

What a heavy book to review. It has left me speechless. Literally.

The writing is superb. The imagery brilliant and the writer seems to have thorough knowledge and understanding of psychosis and the different levels at which it affects its sufferers. This is not your average definition of crazy in stray jackets. It’s the type that goes on behind closed doors unnoticed or rather ignored. And then it builds members of society who are damaged and left unable to cope with life but have created just enough of a veneer to be considered “normal”.This is the part that I found most unsettling about the book. The writer’s brilliance in his/her telling of it rather terrified me. The part that I found deeply disturbing is that I can imagine the reader identifying friends, family and colleagues through these characters. I certainly could and it leads you to wonder: a product of what kind of torture are you looking at?And yet in all that pain that everyone carries, carried even bythe most cheerful of characters like Elyse’s Papa, you could see the resilience of the human spirit. The will to overcome the circumstance life had given them. Sometimes that desire to outrun the cards of fate did not win as we see with Francis. He is a narcissist from beginning to end and although he believes his intentions are good and honorable, he did a lot more damage than good to himself and those he thought he loved.Some people are just not capable of accepting accountability or taking personal responsibility for anything. Know any of those?This book also made me grateful for the time we live in. A time when mental instability can be spotted more readily and treated appropriately in most cases, easing the burden and impact on the sufferer, family members and societyand especially the most vulnerable (children).I believe that the book is completely fiction but fiction with a very deep and broad grain of truth about the things which go on in people’s home that they keep from the public eye.

NOT SO HOT:

I decided to review this book out of the faith I have in Novel Publicity to deliver books that are worth a readers time so I didn't even read the book blurb. I am glad I did not look into it because I would not have picked it. Quite possibly because I would have come across the fact that it has a lot of child abuse in it.As a mother I tend to shy away from such emotionally taxing books. Motherhood made me a sissy.The Angry Woman suite is not for the emotionally sissified. This review is a week late because I kept picking it up and putting it down. And so I apologise to Novel Publicity and Lee Fullbright for that misstep. I should also state under very strong terms that this is not really a critique more than it is a point on personal preference. In this case though had I not picked the book I would completely missed out on a complex and marvelous tale by a writer that is clearly master of their craft.

OVERALL:

My recommendation is that if you are looking for something challenging and entertaining you should certainly get the book. With that have something handy to throw, wail into or a friend to call. I can gaurantee that unless you have had a perfect upbringing, your own demons will rise.

Most know me as the author to Fabulosity Reads and in actual fact, that is the previous name of this blog. I have since then moved my books to a Wordpress self-hosted blog so that I can have a place to show a different side of me which I am equally passionate about and that is marketing and personal development. I hope you will love being here, watching me grow as I share and learn. My highest hope is that we will grown and learn together in all disciplines affecting our lives. I'd LUUURRRVE to hear from you, so don't be shy...